13 months
Since my second job after leaving university, in which I helped build a small factory, I've enjoyed semi-skilled manual work: making things, repairing things. Generally it's small projects which I prefer, those which can be completed in a day or afternoon.
One example was mending the lawnmower. Like many household goods, it first broke down about thirteen months after purchase, when it was just out of guarantee. I took it apart to find the problem, which turned out to be a burned-out connection. Some wire and some solder later, it worked fine again, and it's still running (albeit roughly and noisily) after more than thirteen years.
The washing machine was another example: thirteen months after buying it, it died, so I tried to find what had gone wrong. I was able to sort that problem out after finding the huge deposits of calcium scale inside the internal pipework, and determining that it had blocked and broken the recirculating pump. So I upended the machine, and replaced the pump. That was a fair few years ago. Today, I mended the washing machine again. Over the weekend, and just too late for me to fix it before the shops shut, the laundry drum stopped rotating. It wasn't the pump that had gone wrong again, and the drive belt was still intact, so the chap on the phone said it was probably the brushes.
So, this morning, I upend the washing machine, disconnect its power and shut off the water supply, then remove the hatch to start searching amongst its innards. Separate the power supply blocks. Remove the motor. Disconnect the drive belt and pull off the insulating foam from the motor. Find the brushes, which are not brush-like at all, but trapped square-section carbon rods in plastic boxes, and remove them. Take one up to a parts supplier, and wait for ten minutes while he mutters about them not being made any more, and finally pay ten per cent of the price of a new washing machine for two small components. Cycle home, replace the brushes and reassemble everything. Realise that I have left the foam insulation off the motor. Disassemble the motor from the body again, fit the foam, reassemble. Test. It works! Push the washing machine and dishwasher back into place, having reconnected all the electricity and water. Worry that I haven't got the drive belt tight enough, but think, "Sod it".
And wash some clothes.
:o)
One example was mending the lawnmower. Like many household goods, it first broke down about thirteen months after purchase, when it was just out of guarantee. I took it apart to find the problem, which turned out to be a burned-out connection. Some wire and some solder later, it worked fine again, and it's still running (albeit roughly and noisily) after more than thirteen years.
The washing machine was another example: thirteen months after buying it, it died, so I tried to find what had gone wrong. I was able to sort that problem out after finding the huge deposits of calcium scale inside the internal pipework, and determining that it had blocked and broken the recirculating pump. So I upended the machine, and replaced the pump. That was a fair few years ago. Today, I mended the washing machine again. Over the weekend, and just too late for me to fix it before the shops shut, the laundry drum stopped rotating. It wasn't the pump that had gone wrong again, and the drive belt was still intact, so the chap on the phone said it was probably the brushes.
So, this morning, I upend the washing machine, disconnect its power and shut off the water supply, then remove the hatch to start searching amongst its innards. Separate the power supply blocks. Remove the motor. Disconnect the drive belt and pull off the insulating foam from the motor. Find the brushes, which are not brush-like at all, but trapped square-section carbon rods in plastic boxes, and remove them. Take one up to a parts supplier, and wait for ten minutes while he mutters about them not being made any more, and finally pay ten per cent of the price of a new washing machine for two small components. Cycle home, replace the brushes and reassemble everything. Realise that I have left the foam insulation off the motor. Disassemble the motor from the body again, fit the foam, reassemble. Test. It works! Push the washing machine and dishwasher back into place, having reconnected all the electricity and water. Worry that I haven't got the drive belt tight enough, but think, "Sod it".
And wash some clothes.
:o)
posted by Moses at
4:14 pm
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